Belmont Stakes: Alternation works five furlongs at Arlington

Alternation's Belmont Stakes status will likely be determined this weekend.

ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, Ill. – Alternation, winner of Peter Pan Stakes at Belmont, worked a solid six furlongs on Friday morning at Arlington Park, trainer Donnie Von Hemel’s summer base. Von Hemel said later in the morning that he and Alternation’s owner, Josephine Abercrombie’s Pin Oak Stable, won’t firm up plans for the colt’s next race until sometime this weekend. Alternation is being considered for a return trip to New York for the Belmont Stakes.

Working alone under jockey Eddie Razo around 6:30 a.m. Friday, Alternation was timed by Arlington clockers in splits of 37.60 seconds for three furlongs and 49 seconds for a half-mile on the way to a five-furlong final time of 1:00.60. Alternation then galloped out six furlongs in a strong 1:13.

“I was very pleased,” Von Hemel said. “He broke off real nice and relaxed, and basically every eighth was faster than the previous one. He finished well, galloped out really good.”

The workout was Alternation’s first since he won the Peter Pan on May 14. Coming back from New York, Alternation stopped for a layover at Pin Oak in central Kentucky before arriving at Arlington on May 18. Von Hemel said Alternation had taken the shipping well.

“He was a real trooper on that,” said Von Hemel. “He never got off his feed, never looked like he was down about it or anything.”

Alternation, by Distorted Humor, won three races in a row over the winter. He flipped in the starting gate before the March 19 Rebel Stakes and was scratched, and finished a troubled fifth in the Arkansas Derby before scoring his first stakes win in the Peter Pan.